2 July 2023 Week #40: Shelter Box and Visayas Disaster Resource Center
Dear Family and Friends,
This past Tuesday we picked up Jairus, Kenneth, and Abe at the Quest Motel at 7:30 a.m. We headed to a place called Shelter Box. It is an amazingly helpful NGO that helps in times of emergencies. Check out their website. They have supplies stored in a big warehouse in Mandaue. When disaster strikes they are ready to help. The church in the U.S. is ready to help. Here in the Philippines, we are not. We help, but it isn’t very good. Shelter Box is ready to help immediately. They don’t help without evaluating the situation, the need, and who else is helping. They have packs with supplies in them. Different packs contain different supplies and even different amounts of supplies. They all have a shovel, a hoe, a hammer/pick, a saw, a fine rope, and a heavy rope, three different types of nails, a roll of wire, measuring tape, wire cutters, two curved needles, two sturdy tarps that are one tarp that can be cut into two depending on each situation, with real sturdy reinforced strips on the tarps for nailing down. The items just mentioned are in the bag at the end of the tarp in the picture. Then, they have a lot of other items depending on the need. They have 6,000 of these kits ready to go, stored in the storehouse now with a lot of other kits also. The goal is to have 8,000. They need to be able to stack higher. That is where we might come in, strong sturdy racks to stack on and a forklift that will reach higher.
We also discussed with them the possibility of renting some space for storing some of our emergency supplies like generators and chainsaws.
Then we headed to Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC). That was fun! They have food kits ready to feed thousands. It was impressive. They bag the rice right there. Too bad I don’t know how to send videos. Each box is for 5 individuals for 3 days. They buy canned supplies that are put in the boxes and bag the rice. They have the boxes all labeled for when they were packaged, and when the expiration date comes up. They have some hired help. They are good. However, they will use what they call work for food crews. Then they can give hired workers days off on occasion. They need some of the hired crew to help the volunteers. So, when food is getting close to the expiration date and hasn’t been used yet, rather than throw it away, they have a system where they can contact those in need. Those in need come and work for the day and then take boxes of food home. Pretty cool how they have that all figured out and none of the food goes to waste.
Also, they bag the rice two different ways. When they just bag it and seal it, it is only good for 3 months. They do all of it that way when a disaster strikes and they need to ship it out fast. If they are just preparing for a disaster that hasn’t happened, they will vacuum pack the rice and then it is good for a year. The assembly lines, the packing, the storage with the rotation system, etc. was really impressive.
Both these places, Shelter Box and VDRC are run by impressive ladies. They spoke excellent English, so it was fun for Clyda and me to be a part of this. We spent the morning seeing cool things and understanding every word. On occasion if we weren’t close, they spoke Cebuano to the others, but if we were in earshot, they always spoke English for us. We really appreciated that. So many times, we go to places with our bosses and it is all in Cebuano and we haven’t a clue what was discussed. We have been in on a couple of those when afterwards they expected us to do something about it. Yah, Right! We haven’t got a clue what just happened. We haven’t got a clue what happened most of the time back home with English being spoken.
Then, off to see the 7FSSU. We went so our bosses could meet them and do an official signing with Jairus and Abe present. Brother and Sister Colipapa met us there. I brought the DOD and didn’t have the one with Elder Slaugh, our legal consultant’s signature. I was in hot water again. We have already had this signing twice now and I have to take it back a third time to get it correct. Three times is a charm. Our bosses had a good visit with them and feel good about being able to work with them to distribute supplies during a disaster. So that was good. Thanks to Brother Colipapa and his good work with the 7FSSU.
By this time, it was now about 3:00 p.m. and we were all hungry. We went to an outdoor restaurant on Lapu Lapu close to the airport. Jairus and crew had a flight leaving at 6:00. So, we stopped for Linner or Dunch, whichever you prefer.
We dropped them off at 4:30 and headed home in the traffic and did a little exercising. As Brother Colipapa says, we are exercising our patience muscle when we are in the moving parking lots and take 2 hours to go as far as it would only take 15 minutes to go at 5:00 a.m.
It was a long, but enjoyable day. Last time our bosses were here we spent the day seeing three sites, all Cebuano, and then assignments given to us after they left. We still haven’t completed the assignments. We haven’t got a clue what to do or how to do it. So, entering the day with great trepidation, we were surprised on the outcome and loved the day.
On Wednesday Sister Manatad, the young service missionary who lives here in Cebu alone, came over and spent a couple hours with Clyda cutting Kangaroo Tubes. I went to the office and worked on project development.
On Thursday we were adventurous and went back into the heart of downtown Cebu to get thread for the Kangaroo Tubes. It took quite a while, but I was able to find a parking place and just relaxed. It was a lot better for Clyda also. She had a one-on-one situation and was successful. We went to Landers to grocery shop on the way back home. After arriving home, we zeroed out our church issued bank account. Hopefully we will get that in order now and keep it all straight.
Friday was our normal 7:30 a.m. WSRC meeting. We received quite a bit of training. It was good as long as only one person was talking. As soon as they start asking questions and a discussion gets going with more than one talking at a time it is useless for us. We can’t make heads or tails out of it on the zoom meeting.
We went to the Hong Kong ATM to get money to pay Brother Colipapa. I went with Clyda this time. We left our truck in a no parking zone with the flashers on. We got the cash we thought we needed and arrived back at the truck without a ticket. That was good. We then met Brother Colipapa at the templex to give him the money we owed him to pay for the Pajo Fisherfolk fishing boats. He surprised us with a 600 pesos payment that we weren’t aware of so now we were 400 pesos short. We just paid him the 400 pesos with our money. But, for sure we now know not to submit the receipts until we have withdrawn enough to cover for it. It doesn’t work when we try to pay with our money and then get reimbursed. So, even though we did pay with our money, we won’t enter the payments until we withdraw enough to cover the receipts submitted. We then had an enjoyable 3:00 temple session.
Late Friday night, 11:00 p.m., Clyda called the Social Security Office in Rock Springs. It was the last day of the month, June 30th back home, and she needed to get enrolled for medicare. She is getting old!
We slept in on Saturday. We then picked up the Koyles and the Taylors at the templex at 8:00 a.m. to go to the open market for vegetables. It was an enjoyable hour at the market. We came home and worked on another new report for an hour. At 10:00 a.m. Sister Manatad came to help Clyda cut cloth again. I headed to the office to work on preparing for our Sibunag Fire Station project. I stayed there until about 2:00. On my way home I passed Brother Pedrosa at his normal spot where he tries to pick up passengers with his Habal Habal. When I got back, Clyda and Sister M. were busy cutting away. They did stop for some lunch at Kuy’s Lechon. Our neighbor’s restaurant. Since Sister Manatad was still here, I went out and found Brother Pedrosa and had him give me a ride to Hong Kong bank to withdraw the other cash so we can enter our receipts. I’m glad I took the Habal Habal ride instead of driving the truck. On our way back we were behind a long, long line of traffic because of a parade. On the Habal Habal he just whipped right past the line of traffic. It took about 15 minutes to get to the bank and back. If I had taken the truck, it would have taken over an hour. Thank you, Brother Pedrosa.
We had a wonderful meatloaf and baked potato dinner to start our fast. I’m so grateful that Clyda is an excellent cook and that she likes to do it. Cooking, (me eating), exercising, attending the temple weekly, and our morning routine is how we keep our anxiety down. Holy Habits, Righteous Routines.
Today has been a wonderful Sabbath Day. Sister Ramos has a new companion and so does Elder Jenkins. We will get to know them as we have them over for dinner. The Elders are coming this Tuesday. We also have a new mission President, President Fernandez and his wife, from somewhere here in the Philippines. We will get to meet them soon. It will be interesting for Sister Garner, the Heaths, and the Welchs, who all serve in the office to see how things will now be different, or the same.
I am so grateful to have been given the gift to believe on the testimony of those who know that Jesus is the Christ. D&C 46:14. I’m grateful that through all my short comings, if I will just continue to strive to be obedient and do better and endure to the end, I have hope for eternal life. This gospel is true and it is covering the earth even though the numbers may be few as prophesied. What a blessing to be a part of it. “Lift Where You Stand”
With love,
Dad and Mom
Week #40 6/26-7/2
This past Tuesday we picked up Jairus, Kenneth, and Abe at the Quest Motel at 7:30 a.m. We headed to a place called Shelter Box. It is an amazingly helpful NGO that helps in times of emergencies. Check out their website. They have supplies stored in a big warehouse in Mandaue. When disaster strikes they are ready to help. The church in the U.S. is ready to help. Here in the Philippines, we are not. We help, but it isn’t very good. Shelter Box is ready to help immediately. They don’t help without evaluating the situation, the need, and who else is helping. They have packs with supplies in them. Different packs contain different supplies and even different amounts of supplies. They all have a shovel, a hoe, a hammer/pick, a saw, a fine rope, and a heavy rope, three different types of nails, a roll of wire, measuring tape, wire cutters, two curved needles, two sturdy tarps that are one tarp that can be cut into two depending on each situation, with real sturdy reinforced strips on the tarps for nailing down. The items just mentioned are in the bag at the end of the tarp in the picture. Then, they have a lot of other items depending on the need. They have 6,000 of these kits ready to go, stored in the storehouse now with a lot of other kits also. The goal is to have 8,000. They need to be able to stack higher. That is where we might come in, strong sturdy racks to stack on and a forklift that will reach higher.
We also discussed with them the possibility of renting some space for storing some of our emergency supplies like generators and chainsaws.
Then we headed to Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC). That was fun! They have food kits ready to feed thousands. It was impressive. They bag the rice right there. Too bad I don’t know how to send videos. Each box is for 5 individuals for 3 days. They buy canned supplies that are put in the boxes and bag the rice. They have the boxes all labeled for when they were packaged, and when the expiration date comes up. They have some hired help. They are good. However, they will use what they call work for food crews. Then they can give hired workers days off on occasion. They need some of the hired crew to help the volunteers. So, when food is getting close to the expiration date and hasn’t been used yet, rather than throw it away, they have a system where they can contact those in need. Those in need come and work for the day and then take boxes of food home. Pretty cool how they have that all figured out and none of the food goes to waste.
Also, they bag the rice two different ways. When they just bag it and seal it, it is only good for 3 months. They do all of it that way when a disaster strikes and they need to ship it out fast. If they are just preparing for a disaster that hasn’t happened, they will vacuum pack the rice and then it is good for a year. The assembly lines, the packing, the storage with the rotation system, etc. was really impressive.
Both these places, Shelter Box and VDRC are run by impressive ladies. They spoke excellent English, so it was fun for Clyda and me to be a part of this. We spent the morning seeing cool things and understanding every word. On occasion if we weren’t close, they spoke Cebuano to the others, but if we were in earshot, they always spoke English for us. We really appreciated that. So many times, we go to places with our bosses and it is all in Cebuano and we haven’t a clue what was discussed. We have been in on a couple of those when afterwards they expected us to do something about it. Yah, Right! We haven’t got a clue what just happened. We haven’t got a clue what happened most of the time back home with English being spoken.
Then, off to see the 7FSSU. We went so our bosses could meet them and do an official signing with Jairus and Abe present. Brother and Sister Colipapa met us there. I brought the DOD and didn’t have the one with Elder Slaugh, our legal consultant’s signature. I was in hot water again. We have already had this signing twice now and I have to take it back a third time to get it correct. Three times is a charm. Our bosses had a good visit with them and feel good about being able to work with them to distribute supplies during a disaster. So that was good. Thanks to Brother Colipapa and his good work with the 7FSSU.
By this time, it was now about 3:00 p.m. and we were all hungry. We went to an outdoor restaurant on Lapu Lapu close to the airport. Jairus and crew had a flight leaving at 6:00. So, we stopped for Linner or Dunch, whichever you prefer.
We dropped them off at 4:30 and headed home in the traffic and did a little exercising. As Brother Colipapa says, we are exercising our patience muscle when we are in the moving parking lots and take 2 hours to go as far as it would only take 15 minutes to go at 5:00 a.m.
It was a long, but enjoyable day. Last time our bosses were here we spent the day seeing three sites, all Cebuano, and then assignments given to us after they left. We still haven’t completed the assignments. We haven’t got a clue what to do or how to do it. So, entering the day with great trepidation, we were surprised on the outcome and loved the day.
On Wednesday Sister Manatad, the young service missionary who lives here in Cebu alone, came over and spent a couple hours with Clyda cutting Kangaroo Tubes. I went to the office and worked on project development.
On Thursday we were adventurous and went back into the heart of downtown Cebu to get thread for the Kangaroo Tubes. It took quite a while, but I was able to find a parking place and just relaxed. It was a lot better for Clyda also. She had a one-on-one situation and was successful. We went to Landers to grocery shop on the way back home. After arriving home, we zeroed out our church issued bank account. Hopefully we will get that in order now and keep it all straight.
Friday was our normal 7:30 a.m. WSRC meeting. We received quite a bit of training. It was good as long as only one person was talking. As soon as they start asking questions and a discussion gets going with more than one talking at a time it is useless for us. We can’t make heads or tails out of it on the zoom meeting.
We went to the Hong Kong ATM to get money to pay Brother Colipapa. I went with Clyda this time. We left our truck in a no parking zone with the flashers on. We got the cash we thought we needed and arrived back at the truck without a ticket. That was good. We then met Brother Colipapa at the templex to give him the money we owed him to pay for the Pajo Fisherfolk fishing boats. He surprised us with a 600 pesos payment that we weren’t aware of so now we were 400 pesos short. We just paid him the 400 pesos with our money. But, for sure we now know not to submit the receipts until we have withdrawn enough to cover for it. It doesn’t work when we try to pay with our money and then get reimbursed. So, even though we did pay with our money, we won’t enter the payments until we withdraw enough to cover the receipts submitted. We then had an enjoyable 3:00 temple session.
Late Friday night, 11:00 p.m., Clyda called the Social Security Office in Rock Springs. It was the last day of the month, June 30th back home, and she needed to get enrolled for medicare. She is getting old!
We slept in on Saturday. We then picked up the Koyles and the Taylors at the templex at 8:00 a.m. to go to the open market for vegetables. It was an enjoyable hour at the market. We came home and worked on another new report for an hour. At 10:00 a.m. Sister Manatad came to help Clyda cut cloth again. I headed to the office to work on preparing for our Sibunag Fire Station project. I stayed there until about 2:00. On my way home I passed Brother Pedrosa at his normal spot where he tries to pick up passengers with his Habal Habal. When I got back, Clyda and Sister M. were busy cutting away. They did stop for some lunch at Kuy’s Lechon. Our neighbor’s restaurant. Since Sister Manatad was still here, I went out and found Brother Pedrosa and had him give me a ride to Hong Kong bank to withdraw the other cash so we can enter our receipts. I’m glad I took the Habal Habal ride instead of driving the truck. On our way back we were behind a long, long line of traffic because of a parade. On the Habal Habal he just whipped right past the line of traffic. It took about 15 minutes to get to the bank and back. If I had taken the truck, it would have taken over an hour. Thank you, Brother Pedrosa.
We had a wonderful meatloaf and baked potato dinner to start our fast. I’m so grateful that Clyda is an excellent cook and that she likes to do it. Cooking, (me eating), exercising, attending the temple weekly, and our morning routine is how we keep our anxiety down. Holy Habits, Righteous Routines.
Today has been a wonderful Sabbath Day. Sister Ramos has a new companion and so does Elder Jenkins. We will get to know them as we have them over for dinner. The Elders are coming this Tuesday. We also have a new mission President, President Fernandez and his wife, from somewhere here in the Philippines. We will get to meet them soon. It will be interesting for Sister Garner, the Heaths, and the Welchs, who all serve in the office to see how things will now be different, or the same.
I am so grateful to have been given the gift to believe on the testimony of those who know that Jesus is the Christ. D&C 46:14. I’m grateful that through all my short comings, if I will just continue to strive to be obedient and do better and endure to the end, I have hope for eternal life. This gospel is true and it is covering the earth even though the numbers may be few as prophesied. What a blessing to be a part of it. “Lift Where You Stand”
With love,
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Briant and Clyda
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